Frequent halting by forces makes travel a hellish experience for civilians
Srinagar: On working days, Mumtaz Ahmad commutes from South Kashmir’s Qazigund to Srinagar for his office. By 8:30 am. He gets ready for the office and boards his private car to reach the office in an hour. But it does not happen unless he is lucky to evade the daily forces convoys.
“It is a daily trauma. Vehicles are stopped, half-an-hour on the highway. It has become a routine. One-hour journey takes two traumatic hours, sometimes more. On a daily basis, from Qazigund to Nowgam, we are stopped at least 12 times to pave way for the convoy”, Ahmad says.
This is not Ahmad’s story only. Thousands of people including students, office-goers, laborers and patients travel to and fro Srinagar-Jammu highway on a daily basis. But each of them has to go through daily highway ordeal, courtesy, army and CRPF nakas which stop the commuters to pave way for army and security forces convoys.
When the new Srinagar-Jammu four lane highway was thrown open for people, it was stated as a major relief for people of Kashmir valley as the existing highway was narrow, dilapidated and traffic jams were the order of the day. The new highway was a big relief from this daily ordeal, until 14 February 2019. That day, a young Jasih-e-Muhammad (JeM) militant rammed an explosive-laden car into a CRPF convoy at Lethpora, Pulwama, on the highway, killing 40 personals of CRPF, pushing India and Pakistan on brink of another war. Following the attack, the security forces devised a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for army and security forces convoys. As per this SOP, no civilian vehicle is allowed to move on either lane of the highway when an army or security forces convoy moves. Even if a single army or CRPF vehicle is moving the entire civilian traffic is brought to a stop.
This frequent halt of the civilian traffic has made the highway a horrible experience for commuters, especially people from different districts of south Kashmir who regularly use the highway to reach their respective destination. The highway, which is dotted by dozens of villages all along its stretch from Qazigund in south Kashmir to Nowgam in the summer capital Srinagar, has lost the purpose for which it was built – to make travel less cumbersome for people.
“I travel from Srinagar to Qazigund on a daily basis to reach my office but ever since the restrictions were imposed the travel has become an arduous task. On some days we are stopped after every five to six kilometers and directed to park vehicles on roadsides to pave way for the convoys, although we are on the opposite side” said an employee who travels from Srinagar to the southern Kashmir district on daily basis. According to several employees Kashmir Leader spoke with the “daily grilling” has made travel a “difficult task”. Though there is not exact data available, thousands of employees travel from Srinagar to different districts of southern Kashmir and vice versa on a daily basis to reach office.
The same is true about employees from scores of north Kashmir areas who have to take the highway to reach their offices. “The new highway had not only shortened the distance between Srinagar and Islamabad (Anantnag) and other districts in south Kashmir, it also made travel easy and enjoyable. But that joy is now gone. The travel on the highway has become a hellish experience. We are made to wait for long time under the sun till convoys passes by,” said Muhammad Hussain, a commuter who travels from Bijbehara to Srinagar on daily basis.
Though the government and security forces have time and again assured that employees, patients, students and cases of emergencies were exempted from any restriction on the travel on the highway, the orders have not been implemented on the ground.
Not only the employees, the students too are suffering owing to the traffic restrictions. The Islamic University and Science and Technology (IUST) which is located in Awantipora town of Pulwama district has students enrolled from all the four districts of south Kashmir – Anantnag, Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama from one side and Srinagar and other districts from the other side. Scores of students have to travel each day on the highway to reach the varsity. The traffic restrictions have made the journey tough from them as well. Besides scores of students from south Kashmir districts who study at Kashmir University take the same highway on a daily basis to reach the varsity. “The travel has now become a nightmare on the highway. You never know when a security person will blow the horn and the entire civilian traffic will come to a standstill,” said a student of IUST. “And if you somehow miss the signal, you could be at the risk of getting beaten up by the forces. Every day we lost our precious time as civilian traffic is brought to halt to allow convoys to move, but nobody is bothered to try and ease the sufferings of people.” Another student said nowadays they prefer to leave early to reach the University in time. “We don’t want to miss out on important classes, so it is better to start the day early,” said the student.
“The working class of people are the worst affected as complete obstruction of vehicular movement during convoy time is frustrating. I have been reaching my office late ever since the restrictions on movement of private vehicles during convoy were imposed,” said Musavir Husain, a bank employee.
“We understand the security concern but that doesn’t mean they will put people to suffer at will. This leads to traffic mess on the entire route and makes people suffer,” he added. “Travelling from Srinagar to Anantnag has become a harrowing experience. Last time my patients were waiting at my clinic in Anantnag but unfortunately I could not reach in time. The delay forced many patients to leave the clinic without consultation,” said a doctor. At some spots along the highway the agitated commuters are often seen honking horns of their vehicles to register their protest. “It has become a routine here to harass people in the garb of security. The authorities should fix a particular time for the convoy to pass through the road? Why can’t authorities ask them to pass during early morning and night hours? Children, patients and employees suffer the most,” said a commuter.
While the administration continues to maintain silence about the daily suffering of the people, the commuters have sought the intervention of the government and appealed it to devise alternate arrangements for convoys so that common people do not face the brunt, while security forces convoys pass with safety.
“How long will we have to suffer?” asked the commuter.
This frequent halt of the civilian traffic has made the highway a horrible experience for commuters, especially people from different districts of south Kashmir who regularly use the highway to reach their respective destination.
The highway, which is dotted by dozens of villages all along its stretch from Qazigund in south Kashmir to Nowgam in the summer capital Srinagar, has lost the purpose for which it was built – to make travel less cumbersome for people.
Instances about how ugly the situation could turn in the given circumstances are not wanting, when we look at Tuesday’s Rawalpora incident, where two local youth were allegedly beaten mercilessly by a Road Opening Party (ROP), resulting in serious injuries to both, which angered the locals and induced them to hold a massive protest.
The protest resulted in hours-long traffic jam on Sanat Nagar-Rangreth road and the Army Commanding Officer (CO) had to personally reach the spot to pacify the protestors and motivate them to end their protest. (KDC)
